Dangerous Woman - BTS 8th Member

GRACE TOUR: March 24th 2025 - LOS ANGELES

The concert in Seoul had left Grace on a high. There had been no issues, no problems, it had all gone well. The reviews that had started to come in were all four stars and above though there were obviously the usual reviews that stated 'without BTS there would be no Grace Chu' and 'if it wasn't for BTS, Grace wouldn't have a career or a tour.' Some Korean news reporters were uncomplimentary of her outfits, saying she showed too much flesh when it had been the exact opposite.

But none of those reports or stories could bring her down.

Her flight out of Seoul to Los Angeles happened the day after the concert. Right in the middle of the afternoon, with many reporters and fans waiting for her. It had been a bit chaotic and stupidly noisy but she had her Queen's Guard around her as she walked through Incheon to check in then towards the lounge for the wait and finally on the plane. Eleven hours of flying meant she had time to get some work done, catch up on team emails and finalise a few things with the team in L.A who she would be meeting later on.

She was so thankful for the silent arrival at 8:30am and that she got out of the airport to her hotel with minimal fuss and issues. Though she had slept on the plane, a little power nap before the day started was what she needed and the moment she woke up an hour later, her itinerary was ready for her.

The Staples Centre, now known as the Crypto.com Arena, had been lit up purple for her arrival. News crews had been hanging around the front of the arena ever since she had landed in the city of Angels and ARMY had taken to filming the centre in hopes of getting a sneak peek of the soundcheck.

There had also been very little time to try and do any sightseeing during the couple of days before the concert as there had been one major press conference and interviews on Jimmy Kimmel and Jennifer Hudson's talk shows where they were very impressed with her British accent, leading to a bit of an embarrassing moment with Jimmy Kimmel when he asked her how long she had been taking English lessons for.

The Mayor of Manchester in the UK later tweeted at Jimmy Kimmel and tagged BTS' account in the post saying, "Nice to know interviewers do their research before guests come on the show. Even we know Grace Chu is from Manchester. Manc and proud."

Grace being Grace simply laughed off the moment and joked back that she had been taking lessons for just over a year. Thankfully there were one or two questions about her relationship with Seokjin and then about the boys, the rest of the questions focussing on her solo career and the tour.

She had never been more thankful to get to her hotel, back to her Korean group of people.

"Honestly, you'd think they would have done more research. How many times has BTS been to America and we've made it clear you're British," Sejin had huffed when they got back to her suite.

"Because they just look at Namjoon as the one who can speak English and the rest of us are eye candy," Grace had replied as she sat down in her chair to let the make up artist wipe off the foundation.

She got an annoyed grunt in return but the subject was left alone, though she knew it would be reported back to Hitman Bang and the boys. It was never brought up again but she knew that anything that happened that displeased Sejin or the others would be reported back, made a note of for the future and kept locked in the memory banks.

But for Grace, it was business as usual as she prepped and practised for her tour. The Staples Center was a bit smaller than the Gocheck Sky Dome, but only by 5,000 people. And there would be no Seokjin or Hobi to be a comfort in the couple of hours before the music began.

She was nervous about this one.

This time she would be in front of a live American audience who had been hyping up the tour the most on Twitter when the news had been announced. Grace had seen the setlist suggestions, the costumes suggestions, whether she'd bring out any guests or if BTS would be in attendance or if she would sing any BTS songs. The USA ARMY were in full mode and she had seen some scrambling for tickets, some showcasing what merch they were going to bring to giveaway and how some were going to be meeting each other for the first time.

It did nothing to calm her nerves though.

The loud roar of the crowd when the opening VCR played caused the hairs on her arms to stand on end. She could hear her female dancers whisper excitedly as the floor opened and the sound came pouring in, so much so that she had to turn up the volume on her in-ears.

By the time she had finished In My Head and was about to say hello, the noise was completely overwhelming. She just had to stand there in the light and they were cheering her name, causing her to grin and laugh.

"Los Angeles," she started and paused at the cheers. "Welcome to the In My Head Tour. That was the loudest welcome we've had so far, thank you so much."

She could see the excited faces of young and old, from young teenagers to at least her mother's age. Mostly women, but there were quite a few men in the crowd and she could see that some of them hadn't been dragged by girlfriends or wives by the merch they were wearing.

There were a few signs in the crowd, a 'Yoongi marry me' sign which caused her to laugh when she saw it and the rest of the view was lit up with ARMY bombs. It was a sight to see and one she would remember for a while, even if she was returning the next night.

"ARMY, I have to ask you one thing - will you stay with me? With us?" she asked the crowd, three songs away from finishing for the night.

If she thought the noise at the beginning of the night was loud, the response to her question blew that out the window and when the beginning beats of 'Stay' started the noise volume grew.

It felt a bit strange to be singing in Korean after performing two shows entirely in English but the crowd were singing right along with her, or as much as they could, as she got to Namjoon's verse.

Watching the confetti fall down as she finished the last few lines of Dangerous Woman, watching everyone dance and sing along and watching the staff on the edges enjoying themselves made the long nights of practice, long nights in the studio, the lack of sleep, the worry, the nerves, all completely worth it.

"Well you're trending on Twitter again," Sejin laughed as he showed his phone to Grace as they walked the hallways to the car after her costume and make up had been removed.

There were many videos taken of fans enjoying themselves in the crowd, hyping the people around them, hyping Grace up around the thrust stage. There were photos from the crowd, of the crowd, merch photos, and photos everywhere.

Weverse was also busy with fans uploading their own clips and photos.

They had even picked their own favourite dancers.

"Doing well Gigi," Sejin patted her shoulder. "Only 19 more shows to go."